Environmental Determinants Of Malaria Transmission In Urban Slum Communities: Evidence From Enugu, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to ascertain the environmental related factors influencing malaria transmission in the selected slum areas in Enugu Urban, Enugu State. Both primary and secondary data were employed to gather the information while Taro Yamane (1985) statistical formula was employed to arrive at the sample size of 399 households. The questionnaires were proportionally distributed amongst the six selected slum areas of the study area comprised of: Bunker, Ugwu Aaron, Ugbo Odogwu, Gabone, Obiagu and Gariki. The principal component analysis was employed to test the hypothesis. The result of the hypothesis showed data sets for the environmental factors loaded strongly on four components with a cumulative percentage of 61.18% showing that there is a significant association between environmental factors and malaria transmission. Findings showed that the presence of bushes, stagnant waters around the houses and high temperatures, present a high risk of malaria transmission. Sanitation and hygiene emergencies should be declared in the slum areas, while slum upgrading exercise should be carried out in the study area.